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A12 business
Saturday 2 July 2022

Liz Weston: 3 lessons I wish I'd learned

sooner about travel

nerable I'd been, especial-
ly traveling in places with
poor medical care. Now I
make sure that whenever
we're away from home, we
have travel insurance that
includes medical evacua-
tion. If we're traveling out-
side the U.S., I ensure we
have health insurance cov-
erage as well.
These days, travelers also
have to worry about CO-
VID-19. Although the U.S.
has dropped its require-
People look at a United Airlines flight leaving for Newark, NJ, ment that incoming trav-
at Fiumicino's Leonardo Da Vinci airport, near Rome, Monday,
Nov. 8, 2021. Experience may be the best teacher when travel- elers produce a negative
ing. COVID-19 test , the Centers
Associated Press for Disease Control and
Prevention advises against
By LIZ WESTON of NerdWal- had to pick up our luggage traveling if you have symp-
let at baggage claim, go toms or test positive. That
Almost every trip teaches through customs , check could mean a week or two
me something about my- our bags at another airline's of unexpected hotel and
self, the world and what ticket counter in a different meal costs, so I make sure
not to do next time. Here terminal , get through secu- our travel insurance covers
are three hard-won travel rity and sprint to the gate to COVID-related expenses
lessons that may help you make our connection — all and that the "travel delay
learn from my mistakes. in about an hour. " portion has a high limit
COBBLING TOGETHER Somehow, incredibly, we — such as $250 per person
FLIGHTS ISN'T WORTH THE made our flight home, but per day.
SAVINGS my heart didn't stop pound- Other things can go wrong
Whenever possible, I book ing until we were well over on a trip: flight delays and
nonstop flights. Nonstops the Atlantic Ocean. Now I cancellations, lost bag-
may cost a bit more, but make sure to book through gage, accidents in rental
they avoid the inconve- a single airline and its cars. I charge all of our
nience of layovers and the partners. Our luggage is travel on credit cards that
stress of possibly missing a checked through to our fi- provide coverage for such
connection. nal destination, and flight minor disasters. I particular-
Sometimes, of course, non- delays become the airline's ly like the kind of rental car
stop flights aren't available problem to fix. coverage that's primary ,
or affordable. What you ENSURE YOU'RE INSURED meaning that your auto in-
don't want to do, I learned For years I blithely traipsed surer never needs to know
through bitter experience, around the world, not think- you caused an accident
is try to save money by ing about what might hap- or damaged the rental
booking flight legs with dif- pen if I got sick or injured car. Many cards offer sec-
ferent, unaffiliated airlines far from home. Then my fa- ondary coverage , which
— especially if you're deal- ther suffered a stroke while typically means your insurer
ing with luggage or cus- visiting his sister in Florida. has to be notified and the
toms. In 2017, my husband, The medical evacuation card pays only what your
daughter and I flew to Lon- flight to get him back to his insurance doesn't, accord-
don and then Barcelona, home in Washington state, ing to the Insurance Infor-
Spain. That part went fine; with the required atten- mation Institute.
it was coming back that dant and other necessary This is a lesson I didn't have
became a nightmare. The medical care, would have to learn the hard way: The
Barcelona-to-London flight cost over $100,000. one time a rental car agen-
was delayed. When we Sadly, he never recovered cy tried to bill me for a door
landed at Heathrow Airport enough to make such a ding, I notified my credit
in London, we learned we flight. But I realized how vul- card company. I have no
idea if the claim was paid
or dropped; I just know that
I didn't have to deal with it
after that.
BEWARE THIRD-PARTY
BOOKING SITES
Many credit cards offer
general travel rewards that
you can transfer to the is-
suer's airline and hotel part-
ners. q